Your Excellency, President el-Sisi; Excellencies, Heads of State; Honorable Ministers; Distinguished Guests; Ladies and Gentlemen. It is wonderful to be here in Egypt. Thank you for your warm welcome....

For many medium to small companies, winning a government contract can mean steady business and a path to growth. It should usually be a cause for celebration. Not so for Shirzad. Celebration quickly turned...

New World Bank report provides first comprehensive analysis of the state of early childhood development in the Middle East and North Africa region Rabat, May 12th, 2015­ – Generations of children in the...

While you might think putting money into pre-primary schools and childcare would be the last thing anyone should care about in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) right now, new data suggests it should...

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2015 – The Arab Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group signed today an Enhanced Partnership Framework to support countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in developing...

New World Bank report calls for accountability in public service delivery and identifies local success stories to inform and inspire reforms. Washington, April 15th, 2015­ – The delivery of essential public...

“The hardest thing to receive is quality of care,” declared Muhanad Al-Dawary, a resident of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, in response to a Facebook poll on the quality of public services...

KUWAIT CITY, February 12, 2015 – Addressing the twin challenges of scaling up universal health coverage (UHC) and containing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)...

Across the Middle East and North Africa, countries are being forced to face up to a harsh reality—that, left as they are now, their economies won’t create anything like enough jobs for the hundreds of...

Water loss, and its operational and financial consequences, is a major concern for urban water utilities in the Mediterranean region. Losses, both physical and commercial, are due to leakages and the failure...

BEIRUT, June 3, 2014- While the war in Syria shows no sign of abating, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim today told an audience of students and policymakers that it was time to “prepare for peace”...

JEDDAH, Monday, June 2, 2014 — World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, on his first visit to Saudi Arabia, highlighted the leadership role of the Kingdom in global and regional economic developments,...

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the most water scarce region in the world, and its water stress is likely to worsen. In 1950, per capita renewable water resources were four times greater than...